A few things to note: The action was observed by those aboard the USS Howard which with an AEGIS system and a heavy ECM package required for carrier protection gives them considerable ability to observe what’s going on over there. Unless of course they’re just making this all up, which would be either very unprofessional or an interesting piece of PSYOPS…

It’s also worth noting that these tanks weren’t meant for Kenya as originally reported. Which wouldn’t be the first time an act of piracy having consequences beyond the grab for cash (cf. the Saint Patrick story)…

And in the process of making sure I got that last link posted, this came over the wires at the TIMES, an interview with the pirates themselves. I can only imagine what Blackbeard’s press agent, given a chance to access the media, might have had to say on behalf of his or her client…

Looks like the Modern Age of Piracy has gotten so intense that the Russians are sending a frigate to Somalia to fight pirates preying on routes between Odessa and Kenya. Frankly, the fact that these pirates ended up with 33 T-72 tanks as part of their booty is a scary thought to contemplate; this may not be the richest haul anyone plying the Sweet Trade has ever netted, but it has to be one of the most useful and potentially deadly.

Part the Seventy Fourth is now up, and may be read here. And my apologies to those who got the last notice via e-mail and tried to go straight to Part the Seventy Third; word didn’t come until too late that the link went to the wrong page. If you missed the last part, which barrels into today’s with a major change of tact, it can be read here.